With highlights including new works from established and emerging voices, a stunning array of talent both on and off stage, and an all-new production from the award-winning team behind Counting and Cracking, 2020 at Belvoir is set to be another memorable year.
“This season mixes optimism with searching critique,” said Belvoir Artistic Director, Eamon Flack. “It offers complex new theatrical work alongside time-tested classic theatricality. There’s an abundance of new stories and Australian stories, a mix of legends of the Australian stage and new talent. It’s an optimistic season. More is possible! The world can be better than this! That’s the spirit of our 2020 season.”
Every Brilliant Thing:
10 – 26 January
Steve Rodgers will reprise his role in this return season of the 2019 smash-hit production, Every Brilliant Thing. A warm, deeply-felt show that gleaned both awards and applause, Every Brilliant Thing is heartfelt, generous and original. A real gift that builds hope and joy – with help from the audience – every night.
Jesus Wants Me For A Sunbeam:
6 February – 8 March
After garnering accolades for its premiere season at Riverside Theatres, Belvoir presents National Theatre of Parramatta’s production of Jesus Wants Me For A Sunbeam, based on the novella by Peter Goldsworthy and adapted by Steve Rodgers. A powerful reminder of what we do for those we love, this show is an unmissable family story – raw, honest and beautiful.
Dance Nation:
14 March – 12 April
Somewhere in America, away from the bright lights, a group of young teen girls prepare for the most important event of their lives – a dance show contest. A comic play of memory, feminist power and a subtly subversive exploration of the time of life when the demons can get in. Dance Nation will star an incredible line up of talent, including Mitchell Butel, Emma Harvie, Chika Ikogwe, Yvette Lee, Rebecca Massey, Amber McMahon, Louisa Mignone Tara Morice and Tim Overton.
A Room of One’s Own:
18 April – 17 May
Rippling with passion, Virginia Woolf’s, A Room of One’s Own is arguably one of the finest pieces of writing in the last hundred years. Woolf’s essay has been painstakingly adapted by Belvoir’s Carissa Licciardello and Tom Wright, and stars Anita Hegh (The Wild Duck, STC’s The Harp in the South: Part One & Part Two).
Escaped Alone:
23 May – 21 June
Escaped Alone by Caryl Churchill (Top Girls, Serious Money, Cloud Nine) and directed by Anne-Louise Sarks (An Enemy of the People), stars an impeccable line up of four of Australian theatre greats on stage together – Judi Farr (STC / Steppenwolf’s August: Osage County), Kris McQuade (The Sugar House), Heather Mitchell (STC’s Harp in the South) and Helen Morse (Malthouse’s Picnic at Hanging Rock). Funny, complicated and sinister, this is one production not to be missed.
The Jungle and the Sea:
4 – 26 July
From the team that brought us the 2019 acclaimed Helpmann award winning Counting and Cracking comes The Jungle and the Sea. Written and directed by Belvoir’s Eamon Flack and S. Shakthidharan, and presented in collaboration with Lingalayam Dance Theatre, the story leans on two pillars of classic literature – Antigone and Mahabharata – to forge a new story with the power to heal.
Miss Peony:
1 August – 6 September
A brand-new comedy from the writer who brought us the smash-hit 2018 production, Single Asian Female. Michelle Law’s (SBS’s Homecoming Queens) Miss Peony is a glitzy, glamorous and slightly unhinged comedy about being caught between two generations and two cultures. And what happens when the ghosts of generations past come back to haunt you, for real.
My Brilliant Career:
12 September – 18 October
My Brilliant Career written by Miles Franklin, adapted by award-winning Kendall Feaver (The Almighty Sometimes) and directed by Kate Champion (Every Brilliant Thing), is a great tale of emancipation and identity starring the irrepressible Nikki Shiels (The Sugar House, They Divided the Sky) as Sybylla.
Cursed!:
24 October – 15 November
From 2019 Balnaves Fellow, Jaru/Gija writer Kodie Bedford (ABC TV’s Mystery Road) comes Cursed! – a madcap, liberating play. The hilarious story of a mixed-up family – are they cursed, or can they change the way they see themselves and how the world sees them?
Summerfolk:
21 November – 20 December
Summerfolk is written by Maxim Gorky, and adapted and directed by Belvoir artistic director, Eamon Flack. A coastal town, somewhere in Australia, with a skeleton population in winter and swollen with the holiday crowd in summer. This particular bunch have been coming to their beach houses for years. They’ve got the money to enjoy themselves, they always have. Why should it be any different this year? Why should it ever change?
Subscriptions for Belvoir’s 2020 season are on sale now. For more information, visit: www.belvoir.com.au for details.
Image: Summerfolk – photo by Daniel Boud